LANCASHIRE County Council's head of education policy today admitted the school admissions procedure is a "lottery."

The row over places has been highlighted this year by the plight of Burnley's "DIY School", set up when several parents refused to send their children to the schools allocated by County Hall.

But the families have been further angered this week by the news that children have been admitted to a school they were refused and which Lancashire County Council said could take no more.

But Alan Whittaker, Cabinet Member for Education and Young People, said: "I have met the parents and I understand their concerns.

"I have asked officers to try and come up with some solutions which will address these difficulties for the next academic year."

Speaking about the decision to admit pupils into Gawthorpe High School through the appeals procedure, Mr Whittaker said: "I am unable to affect the outcome of independent appeals panels.

"The decision to allow children into Gawthorpe is their decision and independent of the local authority."

Explaining the reasons why children have been refused places at Habergham, Ivy Bank and Gawthorpe -- schools which are within walking distance of their homes -- Mr Whittaker added: "When Habergham was the old grammar school and the admissions were done on a strictly geographical basis a lot of people did not get children in.

"So Burnley was divided into four quarters and it was decided that 25 percent from each quarter would get a chance to get in, that means of course that everyone has a four to one chance of getting in.

"They are literally drawn out of a hat.

"This is a lottery. I think it is a crazy system."

A spokesman for the parents with children at the DIY School said: "We are being discriminated against. We were told these schools cannot take any more children and they don't have 'elastic walls', but they are letting more children in."

The group have vowed to continue their protest and to keep the DIY School going until their children are given places in the schools they chose as preferences.

The spokesman added: "This is making us more determined to fight on."